* Collaborating around Buying — specifically, betterbuyproject.com: A group of folks — GSA and the National Academy of Public Administration — are working on improving the acquisition process… even the crowdsourcing of an acquisition. It is a great idea and a marvelous attempt at trying something new and different. The official announcement of the program will come later this month at ACT/IAC’s Executive Leadership Conference… and we hope to have GSA’s Mary Davie on Federal News Radio 1500 AM’s Daily Debrief with Chris Dorobek and Amy Morris with a preview in the coming days.

Meanwhile, some photos of the event…

GovLoop’s Ressler with Deloitte’s Rachel Azaroff… Azaroff was one of FCW’s interns when I was editor in chief. One of my goals with interns was to give them something they could have as a “clip” when they went out into the “real” world — and Azaroff was there when FCW launched the Rising Star awards program. So… for the Rising Star issue, I asked a young person to write a story about the challenges facing young feds. The headline, Hire me, already: New recruits say government work is a good gig — and as rewarding as ever — but getting a foot in the door can be a drag, and the story is probably just as apt today as it was back in 2006 when the story was written. I also asked her to write a “comment” piece based on what she had learned: